The 2013-14 Burroughs girls basketball team has experience, talent and balance. As a result, the Burros have the chance to make this season a special one.

"We have a lot of kids coming back, so now the key is that they have to realize they can and should be better," Burros head coach Robert Campbell said. "We should have a good team this year — it's just a matter of if we can get it done on the floor."

Burroughs lost two players from last year's team that finished 17-7 and made it to the second round of the Division 3-A playoffs. Nine players return from that team, including four who are now seniors.

"As long as we stay healthy and we stay together as a group, this could be a really good year," Campbell said. "The chemistry of the team is important — teams go as far as chemistry. If they like each other and they get along it helps a team become a really good team in the end. You have to have leadership and kids that want to get along."

The Burros' leadership starts with its three captains — senior guard Alex Simmons, senior forward Chantia Jennings and junior guard Aubrey Hayes. Campbell appointed the tri-captains after watching how they played and acted during the summer season, which the Burros finished with a 23-3 record.

"I watched what they did, I watched their actions and how people responded to them. I pretty much decided that I thought these three would be the ones that I thought could do the job," Campbell said. "It's important that they lead and help kids out — it's not just screaming and hollering at kids, it's about helping kids when they're down, teaching kids and being a leader on and off the floor."

Simmons spends most of her time on the floor running the point for Burroughs — during the summer she improved her jump shot to add to her strength of driving to the hoop. Hayes is the best shooter on the team, and has developed her offensive game to become a better all-around player in her third season on varsity.

"Aubrey has really worked hard on that part of her game — she doesn't just shoot set shots," Campbell said. "When she was a freshman, she would just sit outside and shoot the ball. Now she's gotten stronger, and she can drive, kick, shot fake and pull up."

Simmons and Hayes are key figures in a Burros' backcourt that also features Madison Schiller, an athletic guard almost fully recovered from a leg injury. Jennings does her work on the inside, alongside forwards Talia Forsythe and Celsea McGrew — the senior trio will look to control the paint and the boards this season.

Page 2 of 3 - "Talia, Chantia and Celsea are kind of the muscle people inside — they have to get the rebounds and just get after it," Campbell said. "Those three have been our three main kids for a long time, and now it's their year to shine."

Brianna Moore, Lexi Herrera and Tasi Ramon also return from last season, and will have increased roles in their junior campaigns. Varsity newcomers at guard include Allie Sliva, Metzli Heck and Ashleigh Ayers; forward Sidney Pollock is the lone freshman on this year's team. The Burros have a balance of talent on their 2013-14 roster, and will receive contributions from both their backcourt and frontcourt players.

"We have a good balance of guard play and inside play — that's what I like about it," Campbell said. "We have some decent shooters, we can handle the ball and we have some decent size inside. We don't have to rely on one aspect of the game — we have a lot of different things we can do."

Burroughs has depth at every position, and as a result Campbell doesn't have a set starting lineup headed into the season. The Burros will go nine or 10 deep in most games this year, with a starting rotation of eight players — Simmons, Hayes, Schiller, Forsythe, McGrew, Moore, Jennings and Sliva.

"We have the ability to start any of those eight kids — we don't have to start the same group every game," Campbell said. "I like to see who plays well with each other, and I look at matchups."

Campbell has made defense a point of emphasis for this year's Burroughs team. He believes that a strong defense will benefit the Burros late in the season.

"In the end, when you get to the playoffs, you have to be able to play good defense if you're going to win more than one game," Campbell said. "We've been trying to emphasize it a lot in practice — we work on some aspect of it every day."

Defensively, Burroughs will mix man-to-man, zones, traps and presses to slow up opponents. The Burros had success pressing weaker opponents during the summer, and isn't committed to a particular style of defense as the season begins.

"We'll mix it up — we're not just going to sit around and do one thing," Campbell said. "We're quick enough to where we can do different stuff, so we don't have to be one-dimensional. We like to keep teams off balance.

"Every team has certain things that they do better than others — it's just a matter of finding out what this team is better at. We figure that out as we play, and we play to our strengths."

When Burroughs has the ball in the half court, it will run the same motion offense as last season. The offense relies on movement and the versatility of the Burros' players.

Page 3 of 3 - "We try to make it so that they don't only shoot the ball outside. Our offense is predicated on driving, kickouts and screens — a lot of motion," Campbell said. "We don't really want any kids to be one-dimensional. We work on shooting the ball off of the drive, shooting the ball off of kickouts, and attacking the basket and shooting layups."

An aspect of the offense Burroughs is still looking to improve as the season begins is its transition attack. The Burros are refining their secondary break, which will create easy shots inside in transition.

"We have to get better in our offensive transition right now — we're too slow getting down the floor from defense to offense," Campbell said. "Our bigs need to move quicker down the floor — we have a little ways to go on that."

Burroughs opens the season at Hesperia on Tuesday, Nov. 26. The Burros' home opener comes against Tehachapi on Tuesday, Dec. 3 — a game the team has looked forward to since last season's loss to the Warriors.

"We had the lead and we just kind of gave it away at the end," Campbell said. "We threw the ball away about four straight times and ended up losing that game — that really frustrated our kids."

Burroughs expects to contend for a Desert Sky League title this season, and begins league play at three-time defending league champion Silverado on Dec. 10. The Burros' lone preseason tournament is the Arvin Holiday Showcase that begins Dec. 20 — after that they have a break before resuming DSL play at Victor Valley on Jan. 7.

"You want to get a good start before Christmas break — that's important," Campbell said. "We'll play those games before Christmas and then take a little break and figure out what we're doing good and what we're doing bad. We'll go hard for a full week and then we'll start playing again."

The pieces are in place for the Burroughs girls basketball team to have a successful season. Just how successful remains to be seen.

"I think it's going to be fun — we have some neat kids. We'll see how the matchups come," Campbell said.